Patents by Inventor Kenichiroh Hara

Kenichiroh Hara has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240124013
    Abstract: A monitoring system has a notifying unit capable of notifying a driver of information in a tactually recognizable manner, and a processor configured to determine whether a seat position of a driver's seat in which a driver is sitting is within a recommended range that represents an extent of the seat position where the driver sitting in the driver's seat can drive a vehicle, and notify the driver of a move request requiring to adjust the seat position within the recommended range through the notifying control unit based on the determination that the seat position is not within the recommended range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2023
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takeshi SAWADA, Jiro FUJINO, Kenichiroh HARA, Satoru KAWAKAMI
  • Publication number: 20240067054
    Abstract: A position displacing device has a processor configured to set a recommendation range of the seat position, capable of displacing the seat position to a manual control position representing the seat position when a driver is operating a vehicle manually within a predetermined time, based on the manual control position, set an intermediate position between the manual control position and an automatic control position set within the recommendation range, and determine whether a level to which the driver is contributing to driving is equal to or below a predetermined reference threshold based on information that describes physical condition of the driver, wherein the seat position is displaced from the automatic control position to the intermediate position when the seat position is at the automatic control position and it is determined that the level to which the driver is contributing to driving is equal to or below the reference threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2023
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, AISIN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takuhiro OMI, Udara Eshan MANAWADU, Hiroshi MORIMOTO, Kenta YAMADA, Kenichiroh HARA
  • Patent number: 11834073
    Abstract: The autonomous driving system includes an internal vehicle camera, a vehicle detection device, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial direction or a line of sight of the driver, judge whether the driver has checked safety of the surroundings of the vehicle based on the angle, and control autonomous driving of the vehicle. The processor is configured to start a lane change of the vehicle when it is judged that the driver has checked the safety of the surroundings of the vehicle. The processor is configured to judge that the driver has checked the safety when a first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has not been detected in a destination lane, and judge that the driver has checked the safety when a second condition more severe than the first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has been detected in the destination lane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yutaro Tsugawa, Kenichiroh Hara, Kazuhiro Tomosue
  • Patent number: 11807277
    Abstract: Provided is a driving assistance apparatus (a control unit (100)) for a vehicle capable of hands-off driving that lets a driver take his or her hands off the steering wheel. The driving assistance apparatus includes a processor (10) configured to determine, on the basis of sensor information indicating a state of the driver, whether or not the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring of the vehicle during the hands-off driving, warn the driver through a notification device when it is determined that the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring, and notify the driver, through the notification device, of a request for holding the steering wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenichiroh Hara, Naruhisa Yoshida, Kazuhiro Tomosue, Shunichiroh Sawai, Naoki Nishimura, Takanori Kusakabe, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Shogo Konishi, Hirofumi Mori
  • Patent number: 11738780
    Abstract: Provided is a driving assistance apparatus (a control unit (100)) for a vehicle capable of hands-off driving that lets a driver take his or her hands off the steering wheel. The driving assistance apparatus includes a processor (10) configured to determine, on the basis of sensor information indicating a state of the driver, whether or not the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring of the vehicle during the hands-off driving, warn the driver through a notification device when it is determined that the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring, and notify the driver, through the notification device, of a request for holding the steering wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenichiroh Hara, Naruhisa Yoshida, Kazuhiro Tomosue, Shunichiroh Sawai, Naoki Nishimura, Takanori Kusakabe, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Shogo Konishi, Hirofumi Mori
  • Patent number: 11741727
    Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an image capturing device capturing a face of a driver of a vehicle to generate a facial image of the driver, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial orientation or a line of sight of the driver based on the facial image, and judge distracted driving by the driver based on the angle. The vehicle is provided with at least one indicator showing a presence of a surrounding vehicle in a rear lateral area of the vehicle. When the indicator is turned on, the processor is configured to ease a condition for judging distracted driving concerning a predetermined angular range when the driver looks at the indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichiroh Hara
  • Publication number: 20230227044
    Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to: detect the posture of a driver of a vehicle from an image of the interior of the vehicle generated by a camera provided on the vehicle, determine that the driver's condition is abnormal, when the detected posture satisfies an abnormality determining condition, detect an unusual sound made by the driver of the vehicle, based on a voice signal of the interior of the vehicle obtained by a microphone provided on the vehicle, and make the abnormality determining condition for the case where the unusual sound is detected less strict than an abnormality determining condition for the case where the unusual sound is not detected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2023
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichiroh HARA
  • Publication number: 20230226909
    Abstract: A driver monitoring device has a processor configured to acquire number of passengers that are occupying a vehicle when the vehicle has begun to travel, to determine whether or not a driver is sitting in a driving seat based on an image near the driving seat of the vehicle which has been taken by an imaging unit and, when it has been determined that the driver is not seated in the driving seat, to determine that the driver is not seated in the driving seat if number of seated people, representing number of people that are sitting as detected by a seating sensor situated in each seat other than the driving seat of the vehicle, matches the number of passengers, and to determine that the driver is seated in the driving seat if the number of seated people is one less than the number of passengers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2022
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Inventor: Kenichiroh Hara
  • Patent number: 11694449
    Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to detect the orientation and the position of the face of a driver of a vehicle from each of face images obtained by a camera for capturing the driver, update a reference direction of orientations or a reference position of the driver's face, based on orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained in a preceding predetermined period, and detect putting a wearable object on or taking a wearable object off the driver's face in each face image. Upon detection of putting on or taking off the wearable object, the processor updates the reference direction or the reference position, based on only orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained after the detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Tomosue, Kenichiroh Hara
  • Patent number: 11661108
    Abstract: The driving assistance device includes a movement detecting unit detecting an attitude changing movement for changing the attitude of a driver seat or a steering wheel of a vehicle capable of traveling in an automated driving mode in which a driver need not perform driving operations during traveling, a hold detecting unit detecting whether or not the steering wheel is held by the driver, and a hold requesting unit starting a holding request asking the driver to hold the steering wheel if the movement detecting unit has detected the attitude changing movement in the automated driving mode and if the hold detecting unit has not detected hold of the steering wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichiroh Hara
  • Patent number: 11651600
    Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to detect the orientation and the position of the face of a driver of a vehicle from each of face images obtained by a camera for capturing the driver, update a reference direction of orientations or a reference position of the driver's face, based on orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained in a preceding predetermined period, and detect putting a wearable object on or taking a wearable object off the driver's face in each face image. Upon detection of putting on or taking off the wearable object, the processor updates the reference direction or the reference position, based on only orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained after the detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Tomosue, Kenichiroh Hara
  • Patent number: 11485367
    Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an automated driving controller that allows hands-off operation in which a driver releases hands from a steering wheel of a vehicle, and controls an automated steering driving in which the vehicle is automatically steered, and a request notification controller that notifies a hands-on request for prompting the driver of the vehicle to perform a hands-on operation to hold the steering wheel, or a surrounding confirmation request for prompting the driver to perform a surrounding confirmation operation to confirm a surrounding condition. During the automated steering driving, the request notification controller is configured to notify the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request again when an elapsed time from notification of the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request exceeds a criterion time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomoyuki Yoshida, Takanori Kusakabe, Kenichiroh Hara, Naoki Nishimura, Shunichiroh Sawai
  • Publication number: 20220309808
    Abstract: The driver monitoring device includes a processor configured to detect an opening/closing state of eyes of a driver of a vehicle based on a facial image in which a face of the driver is shown, judge whether the driver has fallen asleep based on the opening/closing state of the eyes, and judge whether the driver is talking. The processor is configured not to judge that the driver has fallen asleep while it is judged that the driver is talking.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2022
    Publication date: September 29, 2022
    Inventors: Shunichiro SAWAI, Kenichiroh HARA
  • Patent number: 11373283
    Abstract: An object monitoring device 1 comprises an imaging device 2 capturing an image of a range in which a predetermined object should be present and generating an image, an object recognizing part 34 recognizing the object based on the image, a detecting part 35 detecting that the image is unclear, a storage part 31 storing detection information showing that it has been detected that the image is unclear, and a judging part 36 judging a cause for the object not being recognized when the object is not recognized based on the image. When a state occurs where the object is not recognized based on the image and it is not detected that the image is unclear, the judging part judges whether the cause is in the imaging device based on the detection information in a predetermined time period until the state occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichiroh Hara
  • Publication number: 20220089188
    Abstract: The autonomous driving system includes an internal vehicle camera, a vehicle detection device, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial direction or a line of sight of the driver, judge whether the driver has checked safety of the surroundings of the vehicle based on the angle, and control autonomous driving of the vehicle. The processor is configured to start a lane change of the vehicle when it is judged that the driver has checked the safety of the surroundings of the vehicle. The processor is configured to judge that the driver has checked the safety when a first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has not been detected in a destination lane, and judge that the driver has checked the safety when a second condition more severe than the first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has been detected in the destination lane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Publication date: March 24, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yutaro TSUGAWA, Kenichiroh HARA, Kazuhiro TOMOSUE
  • Publication number: 20220004789
    Abstract: A driver monitor detects, based on face images obtained by capturing the face of a driver of a vehicle at different times, a color of the face of the driver and a face orientation angle of the driver in each face image; stores, when a face orientation angle detected from a first face image captured at a first time is included in a predetermined range of face orientation angles, the color detected from the first face image in a memory; and determines that the color of the face is abnormal, when a face orientation angle detected from a second face image captured at a second time later than the first time is included in the range of face orientation angles and a difference between the color detected from the second face image and the color stored in the memory exceeds a variance threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichiroh HARA
  • Publication number: 20220004790
    Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to detect the orientation and the position of the face of a driver of a vehicle from each of face images obtained by a camera for capturing the driver, update a reference direction of orientations or a reference position of the driver's face, based on orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained in a preceding predetermined period, and detect putting a wearable object on or taking a wearable object off the driver's face in each face image. Upon detection of putting on or taking off the wearable object, the processor updates the reference direction or the reference position, based on only orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained after the detection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazuhiro TOMOSUE, Kenichiroh HARA
  • Publication number: 20220001874
    Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an automated driving controller that allows hands-off operation in which a driver releases hands from a steering wheel of a vehicle, and controls an automated steering driving in which the vehicle is automatically steered, and a request notification controller that notifies a hands-on request for prompting the driver of the vehicle to perform a hands-on operation to hold the steering wheel, or a surrounding confirmation request for prompting the driver to perform a surrounding confirmation operation to confirm a surrounding condition. During the automated steering driving, the request notification controller is configured to notify the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request again when an elapsed time from notification of the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request exceeds a criterion time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Inventors: Tomoyuki YOSHIDA, Takanori KUSAKABE, Kenichiroh HARA, Naoki NISHIMURA, Shunichiroh SAWAI
  • Publication number: 20210390322
    Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an image capturing device capturing a face of a driver of a vehicle to generate a facial image of the driver, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial orientation or a line of sight of the driver based on the facial image, and judge distracted driving by the driver based on the angle. The vehicle is provided with at least one indicator showing a presence of a surrounding vehicle in a rear lateral area of the vehicle. When the indicator is turned on, the processor is configured to ease a condition for judging distracted driving concerning a predetermined angular range when the driver looks at the indicator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2021
    Publication date: December 16, 2021
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichiroh HARA
  • Patent number: 11048951
    Abstract: An occupant state recognition apparatus including an eyelid opening recognition unit configured to recognize an eyelid opening of a driver and maximum and minimum values of the eyelid opening; an eye state determination unit configured to determine that the eye is in an eye open state if the eyelid opening becomes greater than or equal to a preset threshold value, and to determine that the eye is in an eye closed state if the eyelid opening becomes less than the threshold value; and a threshold value resetting unit configured to reset the threshold value to a value between the maximum value and the minimum value of the eyelid opening, if the maximum value (or the minimum value) has not become greater (or less) than or equal to the threshold value for a predetermined period or a period corresponding to a predetermined number of times of eyelid opening and closing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoki Nishimura, Shunichiroh Sawai, Kenichiroh Hara, Koichiro Yamauchi